[52] In the notes on the Greeks in this book it was necessary to keep to one State and a particular period. Greece consisted of a number of States of which Attica was one, with Athens as its centre. It comprised only seven hundred square miles, and, allowing for its colonies, would be about half the size of Lancashire. Its great and brilliant period corresponded roughly with the middle half of the Fifth Century B.C. A large proportion of the finest Greek art and literature was produced by this tiny state in that short period. This is the miracle of antiquity. It is to Attica during this period that my remarks mainly refer.
The reader will not be able to follow this note properly, unless he has read the other notes on the same subject (see Index of Subjects).
[53] The second is not by Praxilla. It is to be found in Athenaeus (XV. 695), and is written in the masculine. Most curiously the same mistake is made in the Parnasse des Dames, an 18th Century French book in which Myers would not have been interested.
[54] One at least of the Sappho enthusiasts still survives. See Professor T. G. Tucker’s Sappho.
[55] “The Greek Genius and its meaning to us.”
[56] It should be remembered, however, that this is largely the history of Prussia also.
[57] See Mr. Livingstone’s book.
[58] But [see p. 374] as to Dionysiac sect.
[59] See an interesting passage in Plato’s Republic, I, 330. See also [p. 173] as to Herodotus.
[60] This should be taken into account in interpreting the plays of Euripides, who was probably a sceptic. The case of Aristophanes was different—he was known to be orthodox and almost any licence was permitted on the Comic Stage.